Afraid of Fire
by SkyeLeah
Summary: With C.A.T.'s world falling apart, she has to start over, but she's against it and she's afraid, so to makeup for it, she makes people afraid of her, doesn't let anyone get to know her secrets and rebels. What happens when people invade her privacy? You'l


Disclaimer and Announcement: No characters you recognize are in it yet, though it is in MWPP years. This is like a prologue for my main character and it will be L/J later when they are introduced and such, but just wait. The next chapter will have people you recognize and they, of course, all belong to J.K. Rowling.  
  
Chapter One  
  
It was in the middle of the night and Derrick Teague was making a midnight snack. Slowly, as he started munching on his hot food, a shrill filled the room. Paper towels were strew across the already hot stove and they were engulfed in flames. The fire burned bright and strong. The crimson and orange flames leapt higher and higher and smoke began to fill the room. An eerie shrill continued to ring through the house. The fire alarm.  
  
Derrick panicked and tried to put it out with water, only spreading the fire more quickly. Soon it filled the entire room and Derrick was forced to exit and try to save his wife and two children. The smoke spread through out the house before the flames did. A coughing voice filled the air.  
  
"Mummy," a small little voice coughed. "Mummy," the same voice screamed, yet choked on the smoke.  
  
"Cassie? Where are you Cassie?" a voice responded. It was frightened and worried. "Derrick," that same womanly voice yelled, "Derrick, are you all right?"  
  
"Mummy!" Cassie screamed, chocking on even more smoke. The little girl was wearing a full-length pink nightgown and clutching an old teddy bear with her life. Her long brown hair was put into pigtails and at the moment her face was covered in dirt. "Mummy, where are you?" The fire started to go down the hall while climbing up the walls, heading straight for the bedrooms.  
  
"Cassie," the woman yelled.  
  
"Mummy?" Cassie screamed.  
  
"Get your sister and go out through your window. Just push it up and jump out. It's low enough to the ground."  
  
"Mummy, there's smoke. Is there a fire?" Cassie coughed out. Cassie put her little hand out onto the doorknob and screeched loudly. She looked at the red marks on her hand, startled.  
  
"Beth!" the woman screamed, "get Beth!"  
  
"Mummy, I'm scared!" a smaller voice called out.  
  
A man wearing only jeans, no shirt or shoes, went running through the living room heading towards the two bedrooms where his wife and children slept. "Janet? Are you alright?"  
  
"There's fire everywhere and the doors jammed from the heat. I can't get out. Get Cassie and Beth!" the woman, Janet, screamed.  
  
"Janet, I'm coming in for you," he said, obviously oblivious to the words she had said. It was probably too soft over the crackling of things burning. The fire continued to burn, quickly devouring anything on the floor and eating the carpet.  
  
Derrick stood in front of the door and kicked in with all of his might. The door opened. Inside was Janet, a woman with short blonde hair, lying on the floor unconscious. "Come on, Janet, wake up!" he whispered. After that and getting no response, he bolted out of his bedroom and down the hall where his two daughters slept.  
  
The fire was burning at an alarming rate and consuming almost everything it touched. He carried his wife into the bedroom and shut the door. "Cassie, you out first!" he ordered.  
  
"Not without Beth. Is mummy okay?" Cassie asked worried.  
  
"Mum will be fine," he said, sweat beaded across his forehead as the fire came closer to the room they trapped themselves in.  
  
Cassie started opening the window, but it got stuck. "Daddy," Cassie breathed heavily, trying to push it out.  
  
Derrick picked up a large fairy tale book and smashed it into the window, making it break all over the place. The book fell out to the window.  
  
The fire began licking it's way through under the door, snaking around. There were small explosions everywhere. Cassie grabbed Beth, her younger sisters hand, and started towards the window when another larger explosion consumed the door and her parents.  
  
Derrick screamed in fright. "Cassie, I'll be alright, take Beth and leave!"  
  
Cassie looked towards her father who was trying to beat out the flames, to her younger sister who was laying the floor, trying to get up. Cassie acted quickly and knelt on the floor.  
  
Cassie screamed loudly as she knelt down on a hot piece of ash, marking her knee and burning her nightgown on to her skin.  
  
"Cassie, GO!" her father screamed, trying not the yell form the pain that was searing through his whole body.  
  
Cassie grabbed Beth's hand and pulled her four year old sister to her feet. Beth staggered and jumped as another explosion took place. Hot, smoldering ashes landed on the two young girls, but mostly on Beth. More flames leapt and Beth was beginning to blister all over.  
  
Sirens could be heard in the distance. Cassie dragged a screaming and crying Beth towards the window, slowly counted to three and jumped. It was only the second floor, so it was that bad, if that hadn't landed on the window glass.  
  
"Cassie," Beth whimpered, before she fainted from the pain. Cassie looked at Beth and grew scared. Beth didn't look the same anymore. Cassie suddenly felt pain searing through her leg and looked at where the nightgown was stuck and melted onto her skin. Tears streamed down her face, but the salt tears went into the burns making it hurt even more.  
  
Cassie dragged Beth a little ways away from the house and collapsed. By then, the house was completely engulfed in flames.  
  
Lights were on all down the street, people were coming out of their houses and the fire truck was zooming towards the scene. That was the last thing that Cassie remembered, until she blanked out completely, but not before grabbing the fairytale book which had broken the window.  
  
Meanwhile, a police officer was talking to one of the neighbors, Mrs. Kendall.  
  
"There are two children. Um," Mrs. Kendall said, pushing a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "Cassandra Angelique Teague, I believe and Bethany Adrienne Teague. Uh, there parents were wonderful people but they were the only two those children had," she said softly.  
  
"Any godparents, uncles, grandparents?" the police officer asked.  
  
Mrs. Kendall shook her head. "They were great friends with many people, but both were only children and their parents had died by the time they had those two," she said pointing to the ambulance that was driving down the street at top speed. "Do you think they'll be ok?"  
  
"I'm not sure mam," the officer replied. "If you have any other information on the two kids just give us a call. Here's my card," he said giving her a card with information on it.  
  
The police officer turned around and left while the firemen kept trying to distinguish the flames.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
White. The whole room was white. The walls, the sheets, the bed, her nightgown, and she was pretty sure that if she looked at the floor, it would be white.  
  
Cassie slowly opened her eyes painfully, only to discover that her left eye was swollen shut. She saw a nurse in a white dress talking to a doctor in a white coat. The doctor looked down at Cassie and looked quite shocked.  
  
"Good morning Cassandra," the doctor said almost gleefully.  
  
Cassie tried to speak but no sound came out.  
  
"Don't have her talk, doctor. The medicine, remember?" the nurse said softly. The doctor flipped through some papers and nodded.  
  
"Well Cassandra," the doctor stared, "I'm Dr. Jesher. You have quite a few burns, but nothing that horrible. A few scars here and there, but you'll be fine."  
  
Cassie nodded. "How old is she again?" the doctor asked the nurse.  
  
The nurse flipped through some papers. "Just turned eleven, doctor." The doctor nodded again.  
  
"Beth?" Cassie croaked out in a small, scratchy voice.  
  
The doctor looked at Cassie sadly. "She had burns all over. Almost 75% of her body. I'm sorry, she didn't make it," he said softly.  
  
Cassie started crying out of her right eye and expected to feel the tears going into the wounds on her face, but she just felt soggy. She lifted an arm up to feel her face. It was covered in bandages, including her nose, but a tube was going through that. Her mouth and eyes weren't covered though. Her arm was covered in blisters. Cassie stared at her arm in disbelief.  
  
"Let her sleep doctor, she needs the rest," the nurse said soothingly. Outside the door, the nurse and the doctor spoke.  
  
"Where will she go?" the nurse ask Dr. Jesher.  
  
"Foster family, most likely," the doctor said sadly. "Her mum and dad died in the fire at the house and her sister died here. Both of her parents were only children and she has no living relations. We'll look for a good family, though."  
  
"It's just sad. I know I haven't been working here long, but she's only seven and she'll be permanently disfigured for the rest of her life," the nurse said sadly.  
  
"No completely, some will heal, and the ones on her face will lighten at least, though not go away," the doctor murmured softly. What they didn't know was that even though they spoke softly, Cassie could still hear them.  
  
She closed her eyes in pain and remembered her parents. Janet and Derrick, the happy couple with two beautiful little girls, she remembered one of the next door neighbors saying as she tugged on a handful of Cassie's pigtail. You'll grow up to be beautiful, the neighbor had said. Cassie couldn't help but think that she was wrong.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
It was all so painful. Learning to walk again, learning to walk without someone helping her or using a cane or crutch, trying to swallow whole food again, and just overcoming all of the pain and the funerals.  
  
Cassie spent 2 months in the hospital before they even thought about taking the bandages off her face, but the day did come when they told. Cassie gave them all a small, sad, smile as the doctor cut away the wrappings over her face so he could check the scarring.  
  
Slowly he peeled the last bit of wrapping away, surprised that the scabs hadn't healed to it, and when he saw what her face looked like he hasped, though he tried not to.  
  
"Is it awful?" Cassie asked slowly?  
  
The doctor grunted and called the nurse in. "You're adorable," the nurse exclaimed when she saw her face.  
  
"No scaring, no signs of any damage on your face, arms, or body. Only the one scar on your knee," the doctor announced and wrote feverently into the piles of paper. Cassie subconsciously touched her knee with her small fingertips.  
  
"Did you find a foster family yet?" Cassie asked softly.  
  
The nurse nodded. "They're coming to visit you tomorrow. Do you want to get a wig?"  
  
Cassie felt the top of her head. Most of her hair had been singed off, but the doctor had the whole head shaved so he could check for additional burns. Cassie shook her head no, slowly. The nurse nodded. It was the same nurse from the very beginning.  
  
"What are they like?" Cassie asked, in that sad soft tone she had gotten use to using.  
  
"Who, oh, the family?" the nurse said with a smile. "They're really nice. You'll have an older brother too."  
  
Cassie sighed softly, remembering her family.  
  
"Do you want to talk about your parents for a while?" the nurse asked, sitting at the edge of Cassie's bed.  
  
Cassie didn't nod or shake her head, she just started talking. "My father was great. We did tons of things together. He even took me to the ballet a few times with my mummy. My younger sister, Bethany, could be a pain," Cassie laughed softly, "but I loved her. She was sweet. I miss her."  
  
The nurse nodded and tried her hardest not to cry. "What was your mother like?"  
  
Cassie sighed again. "My mummy was a dancer. I wanted to be just like her since I was little. I started ballet when I was three because I begged her and then I took all sorts of dancing. I did tap, and jazz, and Irish dancing, and even modern and ballroom. My mum taught me some though, because she was a ballet teacher. I've always wanted to be a dancer, I still do. Do you think I'll be able to?" Cassie asked innocently.  
  
A single tear went down the nurse's cheek, but still she nodded. "I think you can, if you want to. It's a great physical therapy too, so you can ask your foster parents with that, until the muscles are stronger in your legs."  
  
Cassie gave a small smile and nodded. She looked at her hospital gown. "Do I have any other clothes, other than the other gowns?" she asked, gesturing to the ugly shade of green hospital gown dress she was wearing.  
  
The nurse shook her head no. "But I know your size, and I could get you something loose for when you meet the family if you want. Ill go ask the doctor."  
  
Cassie nodded and the nurse left. The nurse had practically spent all her time with Cassie, until the doctor had assigned Nurse Jennifer Kern to Cassie alone, since Cassie was in critical condition for the first two weeks she had been there and needed lots of physical therapy.  
  
The doctor had agreed to let Nurse Kern get one loose dress for her to wear and even a wig, incase Cassie changed her mind.  
  
The dress that Nurse Jennifer Kern had gotten Cassie was a beautiful soft blue color. The material was pure cotton and extremely loose and even a size to big, but it was still better than a hospital gown.  
  
On the day that the family was going to arrive, Jennifer helped Cassandra take a bath and then get into the dress. It didn't look great on her, but it was fine. Jennifer showed Cassie the wig because Cassie was beginning to get nervous but Cassie rejected it.  
  
The doctor knocked on the door and pocked his head inside. "You ready?" He asked Cassie. Cassie nodded and Jennifer left the room quietly. Doctor Jesher opened the door all the way and in walked a family. Cassie looked at her feet.  
  
The mother was wearing a pair of jeans and a pink shirt. She had long, dark brown hair that was in ponytail, yet still managed to reach a couple inches past her shoulders.  
  
The father had dark brown hair and small rimmed glasses. His eyes were large and he looked friendly. He was wearing a pair of pants and shirt. He was tall and fairly well built. He looked young, as did the mother.  
  
The son was who Cassie wanted to see the most. He was tall, like his father, and had the matching eyes. He had dark brown hair and it was kept in a ponytail like his mothers. He had a single stud earring in his right ear. He was wearing a white shirt and a denim jacket with denim jeans and black shoes.  
  
He looked at Cassie and Cassie was still watching her shoes. "She's to thin," the boy said and his mother hit him lightly in the back of his head. "Ow," he said monotonously and rubbed the back of his head and fixed his ponytail.  
  
Cassie still stared at her feet. The boy rolled his eyes and his mother glared. "Hello Cassandra," the mother's soft sweet voice greeted. "I'm Marie and this is Kevin," she said gesturing to her husband. "And this is Michael," she told her. Michael rolled his eyes again.  
  
"Do you want to come home with us?" Marie asked innocently as if Michael had said nothing. Cassie said nothing but nodded slowly. "Great, you'll come home with us tomorrow and we can go shopping. Michael, you'll come too. I have to fill out some paperwork and such, but everything will be perfect!"  
  
Marie left gleefully, Kevin had said nothing, and Michael just scowled. Marie seemed to almost bounce with joy.  
  
Cassie whispered to herself, "welcome to your new family." 


End file.
